Metta World Peace: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Kobe Bryant Have A lot In Common

Take away Floyd Mayweather’s gambling, his penchant for being obnoxious at times, and his flair for being arrogant, and what you have is essentially a boxing genius.

People sometimes can’t see that because they get caught up in other things Floyd. Other athletes are aware of that though, and usually always pay homage.

After Floyd put on a clinical boxing session against Robert Guerrero last weekend, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant sent out a tweet calling Mayweather Jr., “Bobby Fischer with gloves,” a genuine reference to the former 1970’s chess champion that many considered a genius.

Mayweather and Bryant are one in the same in some ways, and if you study them long enough, you see some similarities. Lakers forward Metta World Peace can see those similarities, and told Yahoo Sports, that “Bryant and Money Mayweather have a lot in common.”

“They have a lot in common,” World Peace told Yahoo! Sports. “When you get great athletes and look at them you see these similarities in the way their mind works.

“There is this focus and mindset that comes from knowing you have the physical and technical ability to outperform your opponent, that you are starting out with that advantage already in your pocket. From there it is about executing when it matters, and they have both done that time and time again.”

World Peace of course was able to acknowledge that the one difference might be Floyd being a boxer in a sport by himself, and Bryant having to work with teammates.

“Sometimes Kobe tries too hard,” World Peace said. “He wants to win so bad, and it makes him want to do a little bit too much. He feels that pressure of needing to try to carry his teammates on his shoulders and get them over the line. Kobe is more flashy that Floyd, but basketball is also that kind of sport.

“If you are flashy in basketball and make a mistake, you might lose the ball. If you do it in boxing, you could get knocked out. Floyd just wants to get the job done and that is what he did against Guerrero. In boxing, that is how you are going to last for a long time. You don’t see a lot of boxers sticking around for as long as Floyd and still beating everyone like that.”